Local Rule Rule 116: Discovery

RULE 116 DISCOVERY

(a) Voluntary Disclosure by the Government.

The government may voluntarily disclose, within thirty (30) days after the arraignment, all material discoverable pursuant to Fed. R. Crim. P.16.

(b) Requests for Discovery.

(1) Parties' Duty to Confer. Except in an emergency, before filing any discovery motion, the moving party shall confer with opposing counsel to attempt to eliminate or narrow the areas of disagreement. In the motion, the moving party shall certify that a good faith attempt was made to eliminate or narrow the issues raised in the motion through a conference with opposing counsel or that a good faith attempt to comply with this requirement was precluded by the opposing party's unwillingness to confer.

(2) Motion. Any discovery motion shall be filed within fourteen (14) days of receipt of the opposing party's reply to a discovery request. In the event a party files a motion requesting discovery and inspection, it shall include a statement setting forth in detail the statements, reports, tangible objects, or other matters or documents, which are being requested and those which the other party has voluntarily disclosed, and shall include a copy of the discovery request letter and any response. Except in an emergency, no discovery motion, or request for a bill of particulars, shall be filed until the opposing party has failed to provide the requested discovery as agreed, or has failed to respond in writing to a written request.

(3) Response to Motion. The opposing party must file its response to all discovery motions within fourteen (14) days of receipt, stating, as to each request, its basis for opposing that request, including citations to authority.

(4) Agreement. If a party agrees in writing to provide the requested discovery, the agreement shall be enforceable to the same extent as a court order requiring the agreed-upon disclosure. If a party does not agree to provide the requested information, that party must provide the basis for its position in writing.

(5) Multi-defendant Cases. In multi-defendant cases involving more than five (5) defendants, no discovery motions shall be filed unless there is demonstrable urgent need for a particular discovery motion, or otherwise ordered by the court. If a discovery motion is to be filed, the defendant parties must endeavor to the maximum extent possible to file a single consolidated motion. Each defendant need not join in every written request submitted to the government or filed in a consolidated motion, but all defense requests and motions, whether or not joined by each defendant, must, to the maximum extent possible, be contained within a single document or filing.

(6) Continuing Duty. Each party is under a duty, when it learns that a prior disclosure was in some respect inaccurate or incomplete, to supplement promptly any disclosure required by court order, these rules, or the Federal rules of Criminal Procedure.